There is an increasing focus on the so-called hybrid teacher, at the European level. This teacher can alternatively work in a vocational school and a business. It is highly believed that this would help to solve both the aging of VET teachers and the quality of VET. The factors determining the choice of a VET teacher as a second career as well as perceptions of the participants’ former occupation were examined in this research using respectively the FIT-Choice and the PPO scales. The survey involved 114 VET teachers from 33 VET institutions of the country. The results revealed the determinants of VET teachers’ career choice, the most important of which are the high requirements of the teaching profession, the willingness to work with young people, and the influence of former teachers. The analysis of the relations between the perception of prior occupations and these determinants showed that social significance of prior occupation, strong interest in the subject and teaching, as well as workplace training self-efficacy facilitates the transition from business to vocational training. The results are discussed taking to similar studies conducted in other countries using the same measuring instruments.

Nowadays, as a means of supplying the market with a highly qualified workforce, vocational teachers play a significant role in Lithuania’s educational system. It is assumed that the most important factor determining the quality of education is the teacher. Undoubtedly, the vocational teacher’s personality traits and their work motivation are considered to be important components of a successful educational process. Aim: this study was carried out in order to detect the relationship between the vocational teachers’ personality traits and their work motivation. Method: The personality traits were evaluated using the Big Five Inventory (BFI; John et al., 1991, 2008) while the work motivation was assessed by employment of the Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale (MWMS; Gagne et al., 2015). 364 teachers from various Lithuania’s vocational schools participated in the research (243 of them were women, 93 men, while 10 did not specify their gender). Results: The study revealed that a greater expression of neuroticism correlated with an increase of the teachers’ motivation (p < .01), extrinsic (social and material) regulation (p < .01) and introjected regulation (p < .05), although the identified regulation (p < .05) and intrinsic motivation (p < .01) were observed to decrease. Meanwhile, with the increase of the teachers’ expression of extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness, intrinsic motivation (p < .01) and identified regulation (p < .01) heightened, and the extrinsic (material) motivation decreased (in case of extraversion and agreeableness – p < .01, in case of conscientiousness and openness to experience – p < .05). Moreover, the differences of work motivation noticed among various personality profiles were added to the results of the research. [...]